Birch twigs with Easter feathers

I asked you to pick your favorite icon idea for the Marmalade Moon Icon Contest, to enter one idea for an icon that you would have exceptional use of in your digital environment. Then I’ll design a new set of beautiful and practical icons based on your ideas and the winners get this collection of icons for free.

And you came up with tons of great ideas! When going through your responses, I find three themes take form. One is icons that describe your work process, in a more specific way than the icons in the Workflow collection. The process theme includes valuable approaches for indicating how urgent your work is, when it needs to be done, what’s in transit or important, what’s a sketch, what’s overdue and what’s been approved and is a final version.

The next theme has to do with running a small business based around a blog (jacqueline, AG Ambroult, Lori, Wini, Valarie) and the third is a set of icons for a writer (David Gray, Lori, Valarie).

All these ideas are wonderful for reinventing your digital life through speeding up your work in a digital environment, by finding your files and folders with ease. This time, I’ll design a set of Process Icons! But, I find the runner up ideas really fantastic, and I’m seriously considering developing them into icons. I’ll keep you posted.

Congratulations everyone, and thanks for making this contest a huge success!

The following 8 icon ideas have been selected as the winners. Each winner wins the collection they have contributed to creating through submitting their idea. All the winners have already been contacted.

And the winners are:

Process Collection – 7  icons

• Annelie — sketches, drafts
• Mau Orozco — flux, in transition, traffic, stream
• David Clegg — overdue, late, urgent
• workerbee – dreaded report, urgent/important document
• StephenB — official, approved, final version
• Steve Robillard — today, tomorrow
• Edward Scott — safe, important

Bonus prize:

Sandy — medical (this icon will be added to the collection of Organizer icons)

A few other themes I wanted to mention was YodaMac’s suggestion for digital production, Calle Rehbinder’s idea for a set of media icons, Laura William’s idea for an events icon, Helen’s idea for a collection of icons for organizing the financial side of running a small business, Ian’s idea for a set of genealogy icons and Carla’s idea for icons around gratitude and envisioning.

Tags: contest, design, giveaway, productivity, workflow

Daffodils

Before the Easter rabbit appears, I wanted to pick the winner from the giveaway based around 4 inspiring books about creativity.

I’m delighted to announce that Mousy Brown has been randomly chosen as the winner of a heart shaped sterling silver bookmark made by metalsmith Amy Ambroult of Elemental.

It seems like synchronicity, that a random number picker should select the very person who rewarded both Amy and me with a beautiful brooch, in her giveaway! But there it is! And it’s perfect, isn’t it?!  I’m amazed but happy!

Now on to pick the winners of the icon contest where I’ll be designing a new set of productive and beautiful icons based on the winning suggestions! Watch this space for a new announcement shortly!

Tags: contest, giveaway

Books about creativity

I love reading books about creativity, it’s so interesting to get a peek into other artist’s creative process, thoughts around creativity, techniques, workspace and inspiration. Here’s what’s on my bedside table just now.

4 Inspiring Books About Creativity

• Taking Flight: Inspiration And Techniques To Give Your Creative Spirit Wings by Kelly Rae Roberts. Beautiful mixed-media techniques and projects as well as thought-provoking prompts and quotes to give your creative spirit wings.
• Living the Creative Life: Ideas and Inspiration from Working Artists by Ricë Freeman-Zachery. A true gem of a book based on interviews with 15 very interesting and different artists on topics like the muse, creative blocks, keeping a sketchbook and prioritising your art. The first two books on the list are recommendations from artist Dana Barbieri, whose blog Create Share Inspire is full of inspiration.
• Creative Time and Space: Making Room for Making Art by Ricë Freeman-Zachery. A priceless book that puts the idea of making time and space at the core of creativity. It’s not just about managing your time or setting up a studio space in a way that suits you, it’s about your mindset, mental space and soul space, and about making room in your life for your art. Illuminating!
• The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women: A Portable Mentor by Gail McMeekin. An empowering guide to maximizing your creative energy.

And a Silver Bookmark

Sterling silver bookmarks by Amy Ambroult of Elemental

These books about doing what I love mean so much to me that I think they deserve a very special bookmark and I’ve settled for a bookmark made by talented metalsmith Amy Ambroult of Elemental, who makes beautiful jewelry and three sterling silver bookmarks that adorn your books like a jewel. Isn’t her work simply amazing!?

I think I’ll pick the heart! And to thank my readers for all your support, I’ll buy one bookmark for one of you. All you need to do is comment on this post and tell me which your favourite book is (it can be on any topic), and which of Amy’s bookmarks you’d like!

The last day to participate will be the same day that the icon contest closes, on Friday 19th of March.

Tags: books, contest, creative process, creativity, giveaway, inspiration

Resources. Leather bound book with green apple.

Its time for a new icon contest! Tell me what you want me to design for you! If you could pick one icon, that you’d have an enormous use of, what would it be?

I’m going to design a new collection of beautiful and handy icons. There will be around ten icons in the set, based on the ideas of the winners who’ll get the collection for free!

This time the theme is taking care of business, whether it’s the administrative aspect of your life such as filing taxes, planning your next vacation, dealing with your budget or running a small business, it makes it much more fun and easy when you can locate what you need with ease! Adding beauty to your digital space will make these tasks more enjoyable too.

As an example, this icon of a leather bound book and a green apple with dew from the Organizer Collection is an icon symbol for “resources”, but it would also work for “to read”, “legal”, “stash”, “research”, “reference”, “writing”, “book”, “learning”, “teaching”, “nutrition”, “tutorials” or anything else you feel that it represents.

Which files and projects do you need to find with ease? What kind of files and folders do you create on a regular basis? What do your most important and favourite projects look like? It might be an icon that’s a metaphor for documents that need printing, receipts from online purchases or sales, travel expenses, itineraries, art and crafting supplies, invoices, marketing materials, there are endless possibilities! You can enter the competition with one idea for an icon and one idea for the name of the set.

I’d love to hear if you have more ideas or thoughts around the project, but to make it fair to everyone, your main idea will be the one that you can enter the competition with.

The deadline for the icon contest is in two weeks, Friday 19th of March. So take the chance to influence this collection of icons with your ideas and thoughts and needs. Win the icons you really, really want! Please comment to enter the competition.

Tags: contest, digital environment, getting organized, giveaway, productivity, workflow, workspace